"Lenovo, the world's No. 3 PC maker, said on Monday it would start selling laptop computers preloaded with Linux software from Novell instead of Microsoft's Windows operating system." Ars Technica has more on the announcement. "ThinkPad customers will soon have a new configuration option, as Lenovo and Novell have announced that the popular laptops will begin shipping with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED) preinstalled. Although the ThinkPad has been certified for Linux for some time, this marks the first time Lenovo will ship a laptop with Linux preinstalled - while providing both hardware and OS support." Lenovo is the third big name to sell consumer computers with Linux installed (after Dell and Acer).
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Member since:2006-07-30
I agree. When Novell first signed with Microsoft, I basically said - well... Suse is definitely out of any future consideration for me.
On the plus side, we have the world's No. 3 PC maker selling Linux. In the grand scheme of things, this is much better than being just another Windows vendor with no competing alternative OSes.
In the end, it'll be alot easier for users (enterprise, soho, home) to transition from any version of Linux than from Windows2Linux. Have to give this move a thumbs up. It's hard to believe that in just the last few months 3 major vendors (Dell, Acer and now Lenovo) will be selling Linux PCs/Laptops. So far... it hasn't been a bad year for Linux.
Member since:2007-01-18
Well, while I agree that software patents are stupid, I'm unaware of anything from the Novell/Microsoft deal that has had a negative effect on the Linux community other the bickering over whether Novell has gone to the dark side.
From a strictly technical standpoint, SuSE is a great distro. I've used it for a number of years now and for the most part have loved it. The whole zenworks thing with OpenSuSE 10.1 was a bad move, but they improved it with 10.2 and are finally getting rid of it with 10.3. Other than that, I've generally found SuSE to be a great distro choice. As long as Lenovo's laptops have the kind of specs that I'm looking for the next time that I get a laptop, I'll probably get one from them.
Member since:
2006-02-06
"from Novell instead of Microsoft"
Isn't Novell now just an under-privileged daughter of Microsoft? I mean, considering Novell's stupid agreement with Microsoft, buying a computer with Novell's version of Linux on it means signing a contract with Microsoft.
So I wouldn't really use the word "instead" here...